interviews
2024
2023
Lilly Dancyger’s searing and poignant essay collection, First Love: Essays on Friendship (The Dial Press, 2024), explores female companionship, care, and survival. Beginning with her close childhood bond with her cousin, Sabina, Dancyger understood the love of friendship as a revelation.
Should You Lose All Reason(s) by Justine Chan is a debut collection of poetry from Chin Music Press that centers around a Southern Paiute legend about the Coyote. In this legend, a father tells his family to burn his body on a pyre when he dies, to run and not look back.
When Kate Doyle’s story, “The Goldfish in the Pond at the Community Garden,” arrived to Split Lip Magazine’s submissions queue last year, it was like a revelation: I instantly wanted to publish it.
The adage “You can’t judge a book by its cover” frequently gets ignored by book lovers, and for good reason: You often can tell whether or not you’ll enjoy a book by its cover, and good publishers know that.
Making art that communicates internal truths when you don’t know who you are or who you want to become is routine for most artists at some point.
It might seem reckless of me to deem National Book Award finalist Alejandro Varela’s forthcoming The People Who Report More Stress one of the best story collections of the year when it’s the first I’ve read. But here’s the thing: Varela’s collection does everything right.
2022
2021
2020
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2017
Feral Conservatives released their latest LP Better Lives on November 2, 2017 via Egghunt Records. I recently sat down with drummer and co-founder Matt Francis to talk about promoting and recording the album, how to escape Virginia Beach, and the future of music in the era of Trump.
When I met Sharon Harrigan, we were both first-year students in Pacific University’s MFA program. She was studying fiction while I was running in the CNF crowd, but we became good friends and post-grad writing group partners.
What would the worst year of your life sound like if it was an album? If you’re Big Baby’s Ali Mislowsky, you already know. Sour Patch, the band’s newest release and first with Egghunt Records, is a lo-fi, twee pop collection chronicling the singer-guitarist’s tough breaks, rough times, and how it felt to be set adrift into life after college. Fresh off their release show, I sat down with Mislowsky to find out more about this promising young group.
Michigan seems to be a literary hotbed these days. I recently had the good fortune to sit down with Adam Schuitema and chat about all sorts of things: the first album he ever bought, his new collection, and how being a parent has affected his writing more than he even realized.
Music can take you to new places, but it can also lead you back home. Had it not been for Kris Kristofferson’s Live from Austin TX, Amy Rossi may have never returned to writing. Fortunately, everything worked out for the best, and I recently had the opportunity to chat with Amy about her hair metal obsession, “bad sex” stories, and rediscovering the joys of writing.
If you’ve never read anything by Kaj Tanaka, it’s only a matter of time. Like all good writing, Kaj's prose can speak for itself. You’ll find that out soon enough. But before you do, a conversation with the author himself about music, faith, and the frills and fancy bits of storytelling.
Landis Wine is a man of many masks. He’s a singer, a multi-instrumentalist, a songwriter, a producer, and the list goes on and on. Alongside former White Laces bandmate Tori Hovater, he formed the new band Opin. Now with their self-titled debut album out in the world and a tour under their belt, Hovater and Wine are ready for whatever comes next. I sat down with the latter to talk about the new album, musical influences, and how parents have this uncanny ability to make music uncool.
Kara Vernor is the author of Because I Wanted to Write You a Pop Song. She’s also one of my favorite writers working today. Read any story in her debut collection and you’ll want to memorize it like it’s your new favorite song. I recently had the chance to sit down with Kara and talk about how music has shaped both her writing and her life over the years.
Richmond, VA based singer/songwriter/producer London Perry records music under the name Dazeases. Split Lip Magazine is honored and excited to give you both the exclusive premiere of Dazeases’ “Botetourt” music video along with an interview with the artist behind the music. SLM’s resident Music Guru Christopher Wolford recently chatted with Perry about everything under the sun including feminism, fashion, and what it takes to survive in today’s music industry.
2016
Jane Liddle’s short story collection, MURDER, contains fifty tales that examine the mundane and often accidental ways homicide occurs. Written in a humorous and detached tone that is devoid of voyeurism, MURDER is one of the most memorable debut releases this year.
In honor of the relaunch of our site, Fiction Editor Jon McConnell is taking some time to talk to some of our amazing writers about their work each week. This week's chat is with Ashley Hutson, whose short story, “This Bridge,” is our featured fiction this week.
In honor of the relaunch of our site, Fiction Editor Jon McConnell is taking some time to talk to some of our amazing writers about their work each week. This week's chat is with Sheryl Monks, whose short story, ”Robbing Pillars,” is our featured fiction this week.
2015
Several weeks ago, writer Amber Sparks posted a link on Facebook, and the sample quote contained this telling passage: “Access to technology and the knowledge it provides has only made us more paranoid.”
No longer hanging their hats back in their native Denton, Texas, Seryn—now based out of Nashville, Tennessee—recently released their latest record, Shadow Shows, a follow-up (or riposte, perhaps?) to their 2011 album, This Is Where We Are. And the new record is, well, new is likely the best way of putting it.
2014
2013
Bob Hicok's seventh collection is Elegy Owed (Copper Canyon, 2013). This Clumsy Living (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2007), was awarded the 2008 Bobbitt Prize from the Library of Congress and published in a German translation by Luxbooks in 2013.
As pretentious as this is going to sound, Indianapolis is fortunate to have a band that takes itself seriously considering the city has the capacity to crush any aspiring artist, writer or band. Endiana with an ‘E’ is a bold affidavit defining the heartland as an ending, not a beginning.
It was a joy reading Kristina Marie Darling's new book Brushes with and it is a privilege to have the chance to discuss the book with this brilliant avant-garde writer. She is a master of innovative form.
Rob Miller of the band Mister Loveless talks music videos, production, and more.
As junkies for learning about other artists, we talk with singer-songwriter Peter Bradley Adams about his creative process
It is a privilege to feature Michael Meyerhofer as our first Split Lip Spotlight Poet and a pleasure to have him sit with us and talk poetry. But first, let me introduce the guy.
There’s something romantic about the road. When a musician chases a career in music, the road is inevitable; it’s a requirement of the industry. In other words, the potential and success of an artist can be measured in mileage. Although the road can be fun, it’s work, and our bodies and psyches can only take so much at a time.
Read it and Weep is a popular opinion podcast designed to offer readers and film & TV enthusiasts reviews on what one might consider bad literature or appalling television and film.
Ever since his debut record, Dead Language, I have been a big fan of k.s. Rhoads, and to have him here with us at Split Lip is indeed a great honor. He is a true artist devoted to his craft as a composer, lyricist, arranger and multi-instrumentalist—the type of person we adore at Split Lip.
Split Lip was privileged to preview (and review!) the forthcoming EP A Scar is Born: Chapter 3 - Salvation from A Beautiful Curse. Editor-in-Chief J. Scott Bugher sat down with Kenny James from the one-man band to chat about genre expectations, album cohesion, EPs vs. full-lengths, and more.
Record producer and all around badass, Neilson Hubbard, is the founder of Mr. Lemons Recording Studio in Nashville, TN. His capacities diversify from being a talented multi-instrumentalist, to songwriting, to producing records.
All around rad woman, social media maven, volunteering enthusiast, comdienne, and writer, Ashley C. Ford was kind enough to sit down with Split Lip's managing editor, Elysia Smith for a question/answer session.
I had the pleasure of chatting with The Fray’s drummer, Ben Wysocki, last month about the band’s approach to writing their songs. With so many hit singles, I just had to ask how they pull it off. Ben’s a crazy-cool guy and I hope you enjoy what he has to say about the creative process.
The starstruck phenomenon has never made much of an impression on me. I used to work in the entertainment industry and have met several music and film stars, but they never gave a sense of shock and awe.